The author was a 19-year-old girl from the raw, masculine mining town of Butte, Montana. With the publication of this book, Mary MacLane became an overnight sensation. She was called the ‘Wild Woman of Butte,’ a Bohemian, a radical, a feminist, a rebel. Although MacLane went on to write other books, none had the impact of this one, which remains a tour de force about life, love, and longing.